U.S. stock indexes fell in early trading Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is off seven-tenths of one percent, while the broader S&P 500 fell nine-tenths of a point. The NASDAQ dropped one percent.

European markets were also down in afternoon trading.

London's Financial Times 100 index is down seven-tenths of a percent, the CAC-40 in Paris is off one percent, and the DAX in Frankfurt by 1.5 percent.

Earlier, in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained two-tenths of one percent to close at 9,107. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost a quarter of one percent to end at 20,212.

The price of gold increased $7.88 to trade at $1,773.72 an ounce.

The dollar was higher against the yen and the euro.